We’re at the mercy of national villains

As the government scrambles to keep the country afloat, the markets react by raising the interest rates on that debt

In the works of Dickens, a character with a name like Fitch or Moody would be a gangling villain in a stovepipe who whips frozen orphans in the street with his cane, while Standard & Poor’s would be a counting house manned by beancounters in fingerless gloves perched atop rickety stools and scratching out bad financial cess with stubby quills.

If we react poorly as standard to such names, it’s because they’re now synonymous with our every downwards lurch towards national bankruptcy.

This unfolding tale can often seem more Kafka or Heller than Dickens: as the government scrambles to keep the country afloat, these Fitch, Moody and S&P characters downgrade our debt repayment prospects. The markets react by raising the interest rates on that debt. The resulting increase further affects our ability to repay, which in turn leads to another downgrade and so on.